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THE STARTLING EXPERIENCE OF A JEWISH 
TRADER DURING PONTIAC’S SIEGE OF 

DETROIT IN 1763. 

By Hon. David E. Heineman. 

In an earlier volume 1 of the Publications of this Society, 
attention was called to some data indicating the presence of 
Jewish traders in Michigan at a very early day. The matter 
there submitted was mainly the result of random notes and 
what is now presented here has an identical source. One of 
the main points there sought to be established was that 

there was probably no time "from the first advent in appreciable 
numbers of white inhabitants in Michigan when Jewish repre- 
sentation was entirely lacking , that with the earliest arrival of 
English traders from Canada, Jewish traders, reputable men, 
daring pathfinders and pioneers, had their share in the establish- 
ment of the posts that clung timidly to the shores of the Great 
Lakes and upon the edges of the inhospitable forests bordering 
upon their waters. 2 

In confirmation of this statement, some indisputable refer- 
ences to Jewish traders at Detroit during Pontiac’s memorable 
siege of 1763 are here set forth and one of these, whose uncanny 
experience furnishes the title to these references, is a man by 
the name of Nathan Chapman. 

It will be recalled that the attacks made on the posts along 
the Great Lakes in 1763 were concerted surprises and any 
white wayfarers who chanced to be upon those waters received 
their first intimation of the state of affairs by finding them- 

1 No. 13, p. 47 et seq “ Jewish Beginnings in Michigan before 
1850,” by the present writer. 

2 Ibid., p. 57. 


31 


32 


American Jewish Historical Society. 


selves captured by the Indians. This is what happened to 
Chapman, to a trader, who because of his name Levy, is 
assumed to be a Jew, and to two other persons, whose names 
are not given but who are described simply as “ two Jews” 

In the “ Diary of the Siege of Detroit,” 3 written by Major 
Roberts, the Indian tactics of making captives and then dicker- 
ing for their release are described with reference to the above 
persons. Under date of May 22, 1763, Roberts makes entry 
of a message from the Hurons 

that they had taken Chapman and his Merchandize, as also a 
Cannoe with five Englishmen coming from Sandusky yesterday, 
among whom were Mr. Smallman and two Jews, who must have 
all fallen into worse hands if they had not taken them, as they 
had not killed any of them: they desired to know what opinion 
the Comandant had of them, that if he wou’d make Peace with 
them they wou’d give up their Prisoners and pay Chapman for the 
Part of his Merchandize that fell to their Lot in the Division of 
them with the other Indians. 

The Commandant agreed to this but whatever came of the 
arrangement, it would seem that Chapman still had some 
months of exciting experience awaiting him. The diary, 
under date of July 11, shows this entry: 

This Day the Hurons brought in the goods (that had fallen to the 
Share of three or four Bands) that belong’d to Chapman & Levy 
& others. 

A further entry of this date reads : 

We heard today that the Miami Indians were gone off with Mr. 
Levy. 

Levy’s capture is indicated in the entry of July 10, where 
it is stated that Miami Indians approached the fort with a 
flag to speak to the Commandant about 

one Levy they had Prisoner but not daring to come any nearer they 
sent in a list of Things by a Frenchman that he had promis’d 
them if they wou’d give him up. 


3 This Diary has been published only once: Albany, 1860, by 
J. Munsell. The book is scarce, 300 copies having been printed 
for subscribers only. 


Startling Experience of a Jewish Trader — Heineman. 33 

On July 12, the 

Puttawattamees came again with Mr. Chapman. 

and others, and the Commandant told them to bring in all the 
prisoners and he would release their brother. Whether this 
wholesale exchange took place, we are not told and there is no 
hint of the fate of Levy and the rest, other than Chapman. 
These diary entries give us but a vague idea of the trials of 
such captives to whom escape was only possible by making 
terms by force or favor with one tribe after another. 

Chapman’s experience is preserved for us by the record of 
one who had it from his own lips, the Rev. J ohn Heckewelder 
of Bethlehem, the Missionary of the United Brethren, whose 
“ Account of the History, Manners and Customs of the Indian 
Nations” was published at Philadelphia in 1819 in volume i 
of the Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee 
of the American Philosophical Society, and reprinted later 
in volume xii of the Memoirs of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania. It reads as follows: 

About the commencement of the Indian war in 1763, a trading 
Jew, named Chapman, who was going up the Detroit river with a 
batteau-load of goods which he had brought from Albany, was 
taken by some Indians of the Chippeway nation, and destined to 
be put to death. A Frenchman impelled by motives of friendship 
and humanity, found means to steal the prisoner, and kept him 
so concealed for some time, that although the most diligent 
search was made, the place of his confinement could not be dis- 
covered. At last, however, the unfortunate man was betrayed by 
some false friend, and again fell into the power of the Indians 
who took him across the river to be burned and tortured. Tied 
to the stake and the fire burning by his side, his thirst from the 
great heat, became intolerable, and he begged that some drink 
might be given to him. It is a custom with the Indians, previous 
to a prisoner being put to death, to give him what they call his 
last meal; a bowl of pottage or broth was therefore brought to 
him for that purpose. Eager to quench his thirst, he put the 
bowl immediately to his lips, and the liquor being very hot, he 
was dreadfully scalded. Being a man of very quick temper, the 


34 


American Jewish Historical Society . 


moment he felt his mouth burned, he threw the bowl with its 
contents full in the face of the man who handed it to him. 11 He 
is mad! He is mad! ” resounded from all quarters. The by- 
standers considered his conduct as an act of insanity, and imme- 
diately untied the cords with which he was bound, and let him 
go where he pleased. 

This fact was well known to all the inhabitants of Detroit from 
whom I first heard it, and it was afterwards confirmed to me by 
Mr. Chapman himself, who was established as a merchant at that 
place. 

Heekewelder cites the incident in his chapter on Insanity 
among the Indians, in which he speaks of that malady as being 
not uncommon among them, but nevertheless a thing that 
compels their superstitious awe. The custom of the last meal, 
as it is called in the above, seems curious. An acquaintance 
of the writer, whose first-hand acquaintance with Indian law 
and lore is unusually comprehensive, readily interprets its 
motive as one of forestalling on the part of the victim an ill 
report of his slayers to the spirit world. 

Of Chapman’s later residence and occupation in Detroit 
the writer finds some evidence. One is his signed autograph 
letter to John Askin, a leading trading merchant of Detroit, 
requesting 

One Pound Six Shillings N. Y. Currency for Value Received, 

and the other an order on the same party in Chapman’s favor 
calling for 

thirty five half pints of Rum, it being his Due from the 23 of April 
to the 28 of May. 

As the times then were, both of these writings may fairly be 
considered as orders for currency. They are both dated in 
May, 1796, and are preserved in the third of the fifteen hundred 
volumes of the Burton MSS. in the Detroit Public Library. 
The writer has inquired of Mr. Burton, whose knowledge of 
early Detroiters is very remarkable, regarding Chapman, and 
he states that he left descendants who remained residents of 
Detroit. 


1 I» 1, 2 8 



Startling Experience of a Jewish Trader — Eeineman . 35 

The presence of certainly three and possibly four Jews, all 
engaged as or with traders, at Detroit during the summer of 
1763, evidences great activity on the part of Jews in the 
pioneer commerce of those parts and makes the presence of 
others of the same race less improbable. In Heckewelder’s 
“ Narrative of a Journey to the Wabash,” also published by 
the Pennsylvania Society, there is a reference to the murder, 
while on his way to Saginaw, of a trader, whose name brings 
him within touch of this probability. It speaks of an attack 
by the Chippewas on 

a Mr. Jacobs, a trader and his hands, while on their way to Sagina, 
about sixty miles distant from Detroit, in which Jacobs and one of 
his men lost their lives. Jacobs shot dead one of the gang, after 
being mortally wounded himself. 

In any case, this epitome of a forgotten tragedy serves to 
reveal to the imagination, the fearlessness and daring of those 
who first blazed the way for Commerce through the Wilds. 











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